Professor Willow says “No matter how tempting, don’t try to catch a Bulbasaur in a meeting session, even if it’s sitting on the presenter’s head.”

I’m organizing an informal Pokémon Go meetup at the American Society of Association Executives annual meeting in a few weeks, because I’m obsessed with tech disruption (and have a 10 year old daughter who has been obsessed with the trading card game forever!).

The game is so new, and so real-world immersive that I realized it could be pretty disruptive to an annual meeting, event or tradeshow (or a US State Department press conference. Doh!).

Not surprisingly, I couldn’t find anyone else having a stated corporate Pokémon Go policy (!) to work from.

I reached out to my friends at ASAE and with their blessing, I created the meetup as well as this official policy language on playing Pokémon Go at a professional event.

Feel free to use/edit as your organization sees fit (and go Team Valor!).

Speaker and Exhibitor Pokémon Go Tips and Guidelines for #ASAE16

At ASAE, we strive to embrace and explore new technologies. Since Pokémon Go has quickly grown to a global, real-time phenomenon, we want to provide you with some tips and guidelines so that you can enjoy exploring the game but still keep a focus on the learning and working you love at ASAE Annual Meeting.

To help ensure that play will not disturb sessions or any conference offerings, speakers and exhibitors are asked to review the following:

1. All sessions are Pokémon-free zones. As with any other game, we ask that attendees use common courtesy and play during their down time. In the expo hall, please use judgment and common courtesy to ensure that you and all other attendees and exhibitors are able to enjoy the expo hall.

2. This is a real-time, real-world game that ASAE doesn’t control. Our focus is on learning and networking—remember that neither ASAE nor the conference center control of the location of Poké-Stops, Pokémon Gyms, or the location of Pokémon that could potentially appear within the conference center or expo hall.

3. If you’d really like to play, take part in an informal ASAE Pokémon Go meet-up! After a day of sessions, come make new connections while we explore the surrounding neighborhood on a PokéCrawl (that may or may not include a few local bars!). Any questions surrounding the meet-up can be found in the Meet-up topic channel in the #ASAE16 app.

• Sunday, August 14 | 6:00 p.m.
• Hosted by tech guru Layla Masri (@beancreative)
• Experienced players and those looking to learn about the craze are welcome.
• Bring a charged smartphone and a sense of adventure!
• Meet at the South Foyer/South Plaza entrance on Level One (look for the Pikachu balloon!)

*******

Got other suggestions to add to this list? Drop us a line in the comments below!